Rajesh and Nupur Talwar walk out of Ghaziabad's Dasna jail on Monday.

After spending fours year in jail, Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar walked out of Dasna jail on Monday. The dentist couple were last week acquitted by the Allahabad High Court in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case.  They had been lodged in Ghaziabad’s Dasna Jail since 2013, after the CBI court sentenced them to life imprisonment for the murder of their daughter, Aarushi, and domestic help Hemraj.

Rajesh Talwar’s brother Dinesh Talwar and their lawyers Manoj Sisodia and Tanveer Ahmed Mir went to the Dasna Jail to receive them. Police escorted the couple to Nupur’s parents’ house in Noida’s Jalvayu Vihar, the same locality where they stayed when their daughter and their domestic help were murdered in 2008.

The couple had challenged the CBI court’s order in the Allahabad High Court. The high court had last week set aside CBI court judgment allowing the patents of Aarushi to walk free. Talking to media after their release, Talwars lawyers Tanveer Ahmed Mir said, “Allahabad HC’s decision is a stamp on the innocence of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar. This is what they deserved.”

During their time in jail, the Talwars revived a defunct dental clinic and attended to patients everyday of the week.

According to reports, as per Section 437 (a) of the CrPC, the Talwars, even after their acquittal, will have to furnish a surety to ensure that they will be present in the court in case the state files an appeal in a higher court.

Rajesh and Nupur Talwar have spent four years in Dasna jail after being convicted in the double murder case. 

A special CBI Judge, S. Lal, had earlier held Rajesh and Nupur Talwar guilty of conspiracy and murder of Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj. The order, however, failed to bring a closure to the case and the public opinion remained divided, even after years of the conviction.

On May 16, 2008, Aarushi was found murdered inside her bedroom in the flat in Jal Vayu Vihar – her throat slit with surgical precision. It was initially suspected that house help Hemraj had killed Aarushi. However, the case took a shocking turn when Hemraj’s body was recovered two days later from the terrace of the same flat.

The police then began to suspect the Talwars and said Rajesh had murdered the two after finding them in an “objectionable” position. The accusations enraged the Talwars and friends, who accused the police of framing the dentist couple in order to cover up a botched investigation.

After widespread outrage, the case was transferred from the Uttar Pradesh Police to the CBI that exonerated the parents and suspected the Talwars’ assistant Krishna along with two domestic servants, Rajkumar Sharma and Vijay Mandal.

In 2009, the CBI handed over the investigation to a new team, which recommended closing the case due to critical gaps in investigation. Based on circumstantial evidence, it named Rajesh as the sole suspect, but refused to charge him due to lack of evidence.

Rajesh was first arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police on May 23, 2008 after which he was lodged at the Dasna Jail and let off on July 11, 2008. Later in 2012, his wife Nupur surrendered before a Ghaziabad court before trial and was also sent to the Dasna Jail.